Topic: A little advice for a beginner please :)

[Jeron]

Hey guys, my name is Jeron. Me and my buddies got a really beat up harvard foosball table given to us about 3 to 4 months ago. We've been having alot of fun on it so we went to a local tournament, and as you can all guess we got beat really bad lol. But it has given me the bug and I should have a tornado coin op within the month.

But my question for you guys is this. Me being so new at this I don't know anything about it. Is there a good book or something like that, that goes over everything, from rules to tips to showing you how to shoot all the different shots.

I basically want something that will teach me the right way of doing something, so I don't practice it wrong when I get my table.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated thanks

Jeron

[snake eyes]

Jeron- Pick up some DVD's from Insidefoos.com. I think they may even have a special going right now! I have gotten a lot of good info. from these. tactics, shots, use of time outs etc.



Snake

[PatRyan]

http://www.youtube.com/user/zekefooser

You should check out Zeke's tutorials on youtube...excellent teaching videos.

Should you have any questions after watching (and you will), come right back here and ask.  everyone here will be more than happy to help you along!

Pat

[Jeron]

Thanks guys for the help, I watched all zekes videos and bought the "Foosball 101: The Basics" DVD from insidefoos.com. that was the only DVD i could see that was for teaching someone how to play.

The other thing i was curious about is what parts should i get for this new table. its a tornado coin op. Like what breaks or wears out the quickest, something i might want to have on hand if you know what I'm saying...

Thanks again for the help you've gave so far

Jeron

[papafoos]

Practice your ball control.  Nothing will help you as much in all parts of your game.

With your right hand, start the ball with any of the men on the 3 row and see how many times you can pass it back and forth between all 3 men before you lose it.  You may only be able to do it about 3 or 4 times at first, but you'll be amazed how quickly you improve.  The key when first learning, is to let the ball do the work.  In other words, rather than "knocking" the ball back and forth, let the ball "bounce" back and forth.  Don't worry about speed.  That will come later.

With your left hand, start the ball on one of the men on the 5 bar and do the same thing.  Even if you only have aspirations of playing exclusively at goal, this will help your coordination of your left hand.  It will come in handy when you have a slow roller heading for the goal and you can control your reaction rather than going into a panic attack. (spoken from experience even after 40+ years)

Try to play goal for some of the better players and get them to show you how to play a zone defense.

Let us know where your from.  Maybe someone here on the board is one of your locals and willing to adopt you.

[JnK]

one other thing is... patience and discipline...

try not to over due what u are learning...learn 1 thing first then move...

example ...

even tho u are learning ball control... learn at the same time tic tac passing or brush pass...

not both at the same time only 1 then master it... and move on

like if u learn snake aka rollover or pullshot learn 1 first and master it...

experiment with the other...

ull find out if u learn everything step by step you will improve faster...

and 1 other thing is find out who your local pro's are... play in dyp's or pick up games against/with them... see what they do... after when u get a chance ask alot of questions

the video's are a good start... as  u will  learn all your mechanics..defences and zones dont expect to be a foosball god over nite...

unless u can dedicate 15hrs a day every day for 6 months...LOL

but still that doesnt garantee anything...

but most of all make sure u put in table time... the more you play the more u learn

[Jeron]

Papafoos, Thanks for the tips, that's exactly what i plan to do when i get my table is ball control, ball control, and more ball control. ha ha.. after i get pretty comfortable with that I'll move into some passing and shooting. But the past couple of local Pro/Am and DYP tournaments that's all i have played is defense, and all the pro's, semi pros that are on my team have given me tips and stuff that has helped. I just need my table to practice said tips. I live in Draper, Utah which is about 15 to 20 mins south of Salt Lake City, Utah.

JnK, I am going to take it slow and go with one thing at a time.. and i already have found i think the only local tournament in my area and it has quite a few pros, semi-pros, amateurs, and beginners. that play in it every week.

[Will17]

Jaron you should check out a couple links that are great. I was a pure newbie in January 2008 and started reading some things online including this message board, asking for tips and stuff like that. I found out about a tournament coming up near me and planned to go. When I got to the tournament I was really prepared compared to any other newbies that showed up, simply because I did what you are doing right now. Check out www.foosmanchu.com - this one seems a little cheezy at first, but is really good for learning. Before I had ever played in a tournament I read this entire thing. It took me from pure newbie to decent rookie without ever seeing a tournament player. It also has given me a really good understanding of the game and over the last 3 years (since I started) I have become a very competitive touring player. You can learn a lot from watching or even playing with and talking to pro's and masters - but not much advice is as well thought out and 100% true as this stuff. It will make you a better player if you understand it all when you start practicing.

The other link I will supply is www.mindsetfoosball.com which if you go to the forum has a lot of Pro Master tips (in the Pro Master Tips Archive) and that is a lot of advice and discussion between the worlds best players. These tips are good too, but the foos manchu site is actually the best thing you could read about foosball in my opinion.

[Will17]

Oh yeah, Papafoos is right for sure about ball control. Whoever has the best ball control almost always wins a match.

[alaskan thunder]

Snake and Pull Shot Guide

http://www.foosballheaven.com/faqs/snake-and-pull-shots.txt

Passing Guide (particularly brush passing)

http://www.foosballheaven.com/faqs/brush-passing.txt

These 2 links combined w/ tips from some pros and tons of practice are a good starting ground. Everyone here has given good advice. Here is a bit of mine:

1. play as many tour stops, local events, pickup games as possible
2. have fun
3. listen to the more experienced
4. get your friends involved
5. practice
6. learn from your mistakes

[bbtuna]

if you get through this, I have more and you can email me any time and I will do what I can to help...

http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=1543.0

the 101 dvd isn't very good but if you know nothing you may find some of it helpful

when someone said go to InsideFoos to get DVD's, what they meant was just DVD's of tournaments so you can watch the top players and study what they are doing and with that you can learn a ton

good luck, and again, feel free to contact me directly any time

[bbtuna]

also, I forgot to say, this link is very long but there is great info in here on the mental side of the game

http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=2485.0

and I forgot also, if you have local weekly DYP's then ask a lot of questions there, most of the people will be helpful...listen to what they say but don't do everything everyone says until you have it confirmed by other sources that it is a good idea because you can get widely different ideas from people and not know it because you have no point of reference but still it is a good place to start

also, while you are asking and chatting with people try and find someone who is really good, respected by other players, and is good at explaining things...when you are talking with people, a couple questions you should ask all of them are, "Who are the best players here and who do you think is a good teacher that would give time to a new player?"

bbtuna
charles

[gitablok]

If you get a chance to pick his brain, you should. Steve Mori, from Salt Lake, you may have already met him. One of the nicest guys in the game and one of the legends as well.

Steve is one of the players who is credited with " inventing the brush pass " . If you have ever seen him pass, you will believe it, so simple yet so effective. I have asked him if he was the one and he just grinned and said yeah a lot of people say I was the one who started it.

In his day I saw Steve shred some of the best 5 d's out there, including that of Steve Murray, who possessed one of the best 5's to ever play the game. He was one of the first who used the two to the five series as a weapon. He was always the thorn in Todd Loffredo's side just to give you an idea of how good he was.

So if you get the chance, pick his brain, he is a wealth of knowledge. Tell him i sent ya

Iceman.

[Jeron]

Thanks for all your advise guys, it looks like i have alot of reading ahead of me ha ha... but i look forward to it.

Iceman i have met Steve Mori and he is really good and very willing to help. 2 out of the 4 times i have went i have drawn him on my team, and he is very helpful. we talked for about 20 min after everyone went home last time and he just gave me tips. There are alot of good players in Utah apparently, at least that's what Steve says. like one or two pros and quite a few semi's. not sure on there names but i do know that everyone that is a regular is really really good ha ha.. I'll tell him hi for you but who should i say you are.... Whats your name??

[gitablok]

Ezekiel Moore aka the " Iceman "